As good girls, we were taught never to trust ourselves or our own reactions. We can’t tell if we’re hungry; we only know what we shouldn’t eat. We don’t know if we’re tired; we only know we’re not getting enough sleep. We aren’t sure that we’re fit, we only know we’re not sleek. We believe we're not good enough, no matter what. Can we change that, please?

The better-looking girls are instantly escorted by fraternity guys who walk them, still dazed and wide-eyed, to houses on frat row. Presumably each young woman is then deposited in a living room the way a dog might deposit a chew toy.

Nobody ages faster than other people’s children. I’ll be talking on the phone with my friends and their toddlers will be gurgling happily into the receiver. The next time I call these same children will have just taken the MCATs.

For many, marriage offers a mirage of intimacy, an intimacy that, like a mirage, gradually disappears; just when they thought they were being offered an oasis-- a chance for rescue from one's self and a place of safety-- the idea of it evaporates in the heat of real life.

#27: Downton Abbey is very much like Monarch of the Glen; Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, was a main character on Monarch of the Glen. Many good things emerge from--and resemble--other good things.That is not cheating. That is evolution.

I apologized for being single, for being unhappily married, for being divorced, for being a second wife, for being a step-mother, for being happily married. I apologized for not having my old relatives live with me. In graduate school, I apologized for not having a “real” job; when I got a “real” job, I apologized for having one.
I couldn’t let myself win.

Women and girls often regard their ability to please as, paradoxically, one of their greatest strengths. As a culture, we still encourage women and girls to “make nice.” We should be teaching them to “make trouble.”

Do films like "The Hunger Game" trilogy, or the new film based on Cheryl Strayed' "Wild" or, for that matter, Disney's wildly popular "Frozen" illustrate that thing have changed in terms of the power held by center female figures?

Some men are glad to die for love/
They delight in fighting duels./
But I prefer a man who seeks to undermine/
Patriarchy's oppressive rules./
A kiss on the hand/
May be quite continental,/
But feminism's a girl's best friend.

Why do brides buy their wedding gowns (which, one would imagine, that would wear only once) but grooms rent their tuxedos (which, one would imagine, they would have other occasions to wear--if only as a joke?

Have you ever heard a man say: "Don't think of me as man; just think of me as your boss?" I haven't, but I'm still hearing a surprising number of women singing this refrain: "Don't think of me as a woman...." Is it because a recent Gallup Poll found that both women and men still prefer a male boss to a female boss?

Forget our chins. If women had tufts growing from our noses and ears the way guys do, men would bring exorcists to the house. They would hire professionals to drive the evil spirits from our bodies. And the ones doing it would be seen as optimists, because most men would move away and keep the shades down lest a hirsute babe walk by without warning.

There are times when you can either swallow despair or burst out laughing. Given a choice, I'd go with laughter. These 21 writers can help, especially since their works are complex, wise and unnerving even while they are funny, outrageous and irreverent.

I don't wish I were thirty because I know too well what thirty-year-olds are actually thinking. They are thinking “OH MY ACHING GOD I AM THIRTY AND WHAT I AM DOING WITH MY LIFE?” At least when you’re fifty, you know what you’re doing with your life, even if you don’t like it.

Home isn't only where you grew up; it isn't only where everybody knows you; it isn't only where you feel cozy. It's the confidence of knowing who you are: home is portable emotional and spiritual property. You own it.
The world can be your home--if you're willing to let it receive you.

1. Men care way too little about what women say. Women care way too much about what men say--except when those men are in positions of actual power, such as are held by politicians or members of the clergy, who are making decisions and choices that will affect the deepest recesses and corners of our most intimate lives without actually, like, consulting us.

A good friend lets you know that you’re not playing to an empty house. Even if she lives hundreds or thousands of miles away—of even if she’s no longer in your life—she’s cheering so loudly and with such affection that you can hear her voice in your heart.

You might think nobody, but NOBODY, would say "For a fat girl, you don't sweat much" on a first date, but they do. Read 18 other examples of what real people have said on really bad first dates and laugh (or weep).

Every girl remembers the first time she was degraded sexually in public. It is not, as the movies would have us believe, a wonderfully cheery moment of awakening womanhood. It was the moment when you start carrying your keys in your hand so you'd have quick access to the door (plus some metal between your fingers if necessary) and you'd pre-dial "91"on your phone.